“Past Lives Matter”: A Review of Giving Voice to Dawn, written and illustrated by L. S. Gribko

(Morgantown, WV:  Milkweed Rising, 2016). ISBN: 978-0-9978388-1-7

by Joey Madia

“I am a neophyte mystic…”

Thus opens the debut novel from L. S. Gribko. I hesitate to use the word novel, as this book is so much more. Its use of amalgam characters engaging in the Socratic method to explore the spiritual journey evokes Carlos Casteneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan and Dan Milman’s Way of the Peaceful Warrior while the vivid descriptions and level of research of the Civil War battlefields and leaders that form the core of the book would make both a historian like Bruce Catton and a novelist like Michael Shaara proud. It is part travelogue, part spiritual handbook, part Ted Andrew’s Animal Speak, and part family saga. That Gribko weaves it all together in such a way as to make a deeply moving page-turner that speaks to the Seeker in all of us is no small achievement.

As though the rich prose were not enough, Gribko fills the book with poems and illustrations that bring her words and encounters to life and give the reader a reflective pause from the at-times dense, descriptive action.

The book’s first person narrator (whom we find out near the end is named Ellie) is an archetype with which I have become quite familiar in my work with the small and independent press as both an editor and writer. She is someone who has had her fill of the shifting sands and endless compromises of the Corporate Life into which she and several other characters have bought and is at the threshold/precipice of committing to a more Artistic and Spiritual Life. Gribko’s array of characters create a continuum of attitudes, stories, and hopes that is so well represented that any reader, no matter his or her place on their own journey, can find someone with whom to identify.

Reminding me of Socrates in Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Ellie’s main guide is a mysterious figure named Mick that she talks to while she rides the Metro in and out of DC. Commuter trains are a sobering metaphor of those who, as Sting sings in “Synchronicity II” (pay attention to that title) are “packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes/contestants in a suicidal race.” We can’t help but root for Ellie and her co-worker, Neil, as they throw off the chains and go in pursuit of answers to a series of questions their mystical experiences provide.

Once again showing Gribko’s depth of research, her narrator visits (and exquisitely describes) the National Museum of the American Indian. I had the pleasure of visiting there several years ago and Gribko took me right back. Her descriptions of the landscaping outside and the dome above the main entranceway call attention to how much care and detail went into honoring the elements and nature in the architectural design. This same descriptive flair is repeated when Ellie and Neil experience the National Portrait Gallery.

One of the strengths of Giving Voice to Dawn is how it operates on numerous levels at once, a point I touched on earlier. For instance, it can be read as an historical adventure, albeit with what could be called paranormal aspects. But Gribko opens the door for those skeptical of the “New Age” of spirituality by giving creed to the notion that all that the main characters experience can be chalked up to Imagination. This is in no way meant to give the power of Imagination short shrift—hence my use of the capital “I.” On the contrary, as Einstein told us: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world.” Imagination in this book goes even further, embracing the entire Universe. Without spoiling the surprises, it must be said that Gribko makes a great case for the importance of history and getting to know—beyond dates and dry facts—those leaders who shaped our country and our world. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s phenomenon of a musical Hamilton attests to this as well.

Perhaps the most challenging spiritual facet in the book is the notion of past lives. More and more research is being done in neuroscience and memory, and quantum physics makes a strong case for time being nonlinear and effect operating on cause as well as the other way around, but past lives are still largely a matter of faith. Regardless of where you stand, the experiences of the main characters as they visit the Antietam battlefield and its surrounding area are deeply profound and Gribko’s writing shines in these moments most brightly.

For those readers who pay attention to animal totems, Giving Voice to Dawn is full of references to especially our flying companions. There is excellent advice sprinkled throughout the book about paying attention to and interpreting the signs of animal totems, as well as the correlations between certain personality types (i.e., those of the prevalent military men and politicians that figure into the story) and their animal totems.

I mentioned Synchronicity when quoting Sting. Although it is nothing we learned in Literature class or in reading groups, the resonance of a book, especially one such as this, can be measured on some level by the amount of synchronicities it generates. Giving Voice to Dawn generated synchronicities for me on an almost daily basis. Its energy derives from a potent combination of Gribko’s research, writing skills, and ability to translate the spiritual into understandable, applicable examples and suggestions.

I believe that Giving Voice to Dawn could (and should) hold a place in the spiritual seeker’s library beside the books I mentioned in the opening and such best-sellers as Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. It resonates with the messages of contemporary adept spiritual practitioners and lecturers such as Caroline Myss and the late Wayne Dyer, offering numerous pathways to enter its fields of wisdom no matter where you are on your journey.